The Jobs Conundrum

By

Mark Gongloff The Wall Street Journal Online

Updated Aug. 5, 2005 12:56 p.m. ET

The U.S. labor market was healthy in July, according to a government report, cementing expectations for more Federal Reserve policy tightening in the near future. But the report left some key questions unanswered.

Nonfarm employers created 207,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said, topping economists' forecasts. Monthly payrolls have grown for more than two years straight, and after a prolonged "jobless recovery," payrolls are more than three million jobs stronger than after the latest recession. New...